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History & Mission: |
The beginnings of the Bach Collegium Ensemble can be traced back to June2009 when Elliott Smith approached Howard Helvey, the organist/choirmaster at Cincinnati’s historic Calvary Episcopal Church in Clifton, about the prospect of starting a concert series devoted to the music of J.S. Bach. Four months later, on October 11, 2009, Calvary graciously agreed to open its doors to an excellent volunteer orchestra and two talented singers from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music who presented a couple of Bach’s solo cantatas. Following the success of this program, Jung Jin Baek, Jeremy Jones and Elliott Smith, all choral conducting students at the University of Cincinnati, applied for a grant from the school’s Tangeman Sacred Music Center. They were awarded $5,000 and given the incredible opportunity to hire an orchestra and present two more concerts at Calvary in March and May 2010. This “Bach Collegium Series” continued with another concert presented at the CCM in June 2010 with partial sponsorship from the University Starbucks (in honor of the performance of J.S. Bach’s well-loved Coffee Cantata). Today’s performance marks the 5th concert of the series, and the 4th presented at Calvary Episcopal Church, hoping that there will be many more to come. |
